Making of the Sky Lantern

Material expands when hot and contracts when cold. When the air inside the lantern is heated, the air volume expands and its density reduces, so it moves upward and cold air moves in. This continuous heat convection makes the sky lantern rise.

• First make the base frame. Make a circle with bamboo strips, about 220 cm in length, using glue to bind them together. Then use wire to criss-cross the center and leave a small section of wire to hold the fuel (12 pieces of ghost money soaked in kerosene)
• Take four pieces of rice paper about 120 cm long and 108 cm wide and cut them into a sky lantern shape. Stack them on top of each other overlapping by about 1.5 centimeters and apply glue. Connect the second and third ones from the left and then connect the first one to the fourth one’s left side.
• Connect the right sides. First connect the first and second pieces, and then connect the third and fourth pieces.
• To connect the bamboo frame and the rice paper, first use double-sided tape on the outer sides of the bamboo frame to attach the bottom of the rice paper.
• Pull open the rice paper and place the bamboo frame inside, tape up the circle on all sides, and the sky lantern is completed.